Sea Anemone

Today's rock pool find is the green creature in the centre of this shot and it is a sea anemone.

A close relative of coral and jellyfish, anemones are stinging polyps that spend most of their time attached to rocks on the sea bottom or on coral reefs waiting for fish to pass close enough to get ensnared in their venom-filled tentacles.

Their bodies are composed of an adhesive pedal disc, or foot, a cylindrical body, and an array of tentacles surrounding a central mouth. The tentacles are triggered by the slightest touch, firing a harpoon-like filament into their victim and injecting a paralyzing neurotoxin. The helpless prey is then guided into the mouth by the tentacles.

[julia]

Great shot .. and what lovely clear water..

[Valerie Chesney]

Yes, great shot, not easy to capture....

[Chris K]

wonderful shot. Wouldnt want to put my foot on that fellow

[Rachel]

I really do like these things, so interesting to watch. Lovely shot!

[Jane Morley]

Amazing. The reflections are super too. I'm sure the pink stuff is similar to the " whatever it was" that grew where we used to find crayfish when we lived in South Africa. My friends used to sell them to my Dad for 2/6 ( just before the Rand came into being) .

[Loopy-Lou]

Fabulous capture, lovely colours and texture

[Joyce]

Amazing shot of this strange creature Babs

[sally agnew]

A most unusual green, nice capture Babs :)

[Barb Newcomb]

Wonderful colourful shot Babs.

[Wylie]

I love taking shots of rock pools, this is a great anemone.

[tony gig]

Fabulous shot of nature.

[Merrelyn]

Great capture, I love the colours.

[Lady Magpie (Heather)]

What a beautiful looking sea anemone, good find and capture.

[Sally Ings]

The colours are amazing! The water looks so clear as well.

[gloria jones]

Great shot, textures

[ShirleyB]

Fascinating, what a lovely colour. You have captured this so well.

[Margaret Brown]

Lovely colour and detail

[Paula W]

How unusual, what beautiful textures and colours.

[Taffy]

Intriguing! It looks like a plant.

[mittens (Marilyn)]

Wow, very cool.

[Babs]

@julzmaioro @happysnaps @cruiser @888rachel @chimfa @bizziebeeme @thistle @hermann @beachdog @pusspup @tonygig @merrelyn @ladymagpie @salza @seattlite @shirleybankfarm @craftymeg @paulaw @taffy @mittens Thanks everyone. We are so lucky that the water here at the bay is so clear. Yes Valerie, it was difficult to capture, the rocks are quite difficult to walk over. The 'pink stuff' Jane is coralline which is a type of seaweed. It looks beautiful and the reflection of it on the water looks good too. We did very well to spot this sea anemone, it was quite well hidden. I had to get into the weirdest position to capture it. Good job not too many people were on the beach that day. It wasn't a pretty sight.

[Gayle Sears]

Wonderful capture and interesting information.

[KWind]

It's a wonderful colourful full of texture! Great shot.

[Rosan]

Quite fascinating and superb shot.

[Sylvia du Toit]

Thanks for sharing. Beautiful colors and information.

[Annie D]

it's a beauty

[Sue]

Oh fantastic shot Babs.

[Poppo Livy]

What's an enemy between friends hey? Nice shot Babs